The most important visitor

Before coming to Germany I asked my mum if she was going to visit me in Berlin. She told me she wouldn't, because she was going to save the money for a trip in the fall. A few weeks later, when I''d been in Berlin for a couple of weeks my mum asked me when I would have time, if she'd visit me. Everyone had told her that Berlin is an amazing city and she had changed her mind. I picked her up on Tegel airport on Friday and she brought me some things I missed from Sweden: bread and liquorice... On the first evening we took a walk in the park across the street where the Castle of Charlottenburg. The park is huge and there is a mausoleum and a belvedere and everything is absolutely beautiful. After our nice walk we had dinner at a nice italian restaurant right across the street from where I live.

Blooming colours

On Saturday we decided to go see the Botanic Garden adn Botanic Museum of Berlin. The garden comprises an area of 126 acres (43 ha) and is one of the largest and most important botanic gardens in the world. There are 16 greenhouses open to public, where the visitors have the opportunity to travel trough tropical and subtropical vegetations. There were wonderful flowers and I especially loved the cactuses, most of which were in bloom.

Mother was enjoying the south african rainforest

In the evening we had reserved a table at a brazilian restaurant, Villa Rodizio. The restaurant is in Prenzlauer Berg close to the metro station Schönhauser Allee. Every day they have a huge buffet there called the Rodizio with nine different kinds of meat, a surprise course and two desserts. The buffee was full of salads, potatoes, rice, vegetables, sauces... The dessert was fried bananas with chocolate sauce and coconut flakes, and the other dessert flambéed pineapple. It was all very delicious and we were completely full when we were done.

Mother and Matt by the bear on the bridge Moabiterbrücke,
that is also called Bärenbrücke (Bear bridge)

For today we had planned a small river cruise in the city. It was raining a bit, but we decided to do the cruise anyway. It was all very nice even though it rained a bit here and there. After the cruise we decided to go see a photo exhibition in Kreuzberg. It was the world press photo exhibition in Willy-Brandt-Haus. I must say I was shocked about some of the pictures, but I guess that is partly their purpose. To shock and to tell people about things that happen around the world. Here are the pictures: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/ There were many beautiful pictures but they really made me think and what I wouldn't give to have the proper equipment to take such pictures. It would be amazing if one day one of my pictures hanged there on the wall. Dreams.

The Bode Museum on the Museum island in central Berlin

Little buddies wishing for left-overs

River side view of the parliament

Roadtrip!

On Friday at 5.30 pm, 20 minutes behind of schedule our red-and-white AirBerlin airplane took off with direction to Basel. Still we arrived only 5 minutes behind of schedule at the international airport of Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg. Basel is maybe one of the most international airports in the world. Not because flights from all over the world arrive there - it's not even that big an airport. What makes it international is the fact that you take one exit and you stand on french soil, when the other exit takes you to Switzerland. After getting the keys to our rented Citroén C3 we headed to the Autobahn going to Freiburg - or in French: Fribourg.

Friburg hat unusual gutters called Bächle. It is said that if you
accidentally step or fall into one, you will marry a Freiburger.

The original reason for this trip was the farewell party of one of my good friends, Lena, whom I worked with in Hanover. Lena finished her studies in fashion design in Hanover about four years ago and came back to her home town Freiburg. Now she had made the decision to take off to Australia for a year. The party was to take place in the chic in-bar Coucou in the old town of Freiburg. Later in the evening we continued the party at the downtown club Karma, which was a small and stylish - and so full with people that it was hard to get through to the other side. What I didn't like about the club was that everyone was smoking in there. I think my clubbing days might be over, it's not as much fun anymore... I much rather go dancing!

The view from the tower of the Freiburg Minster.

Saturday morning before enjoying a nice breakfast with Lena, her boyfriend Carlo and his flat mate Dominic we took the chance to visit the cathedral Freiburger Münster, which is situtated in the centre of the old town. The building of the churhc started around 1200 and was officially finished in 1531 and it is a roman-catholic cathedral, which represents the religion of most people in south Germany. After breakfast we headed to what still was an unknown destination for me. Our first stop was the Rhine Falls (Rheinfalls), which is the largest plain waterfalls in Europe and it is situated near the town of Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland. The day wasn't too warm but we decided to take a small boat tour to see the falls. With its five euros and 15 minutes it was the cheapest and shortest trip they had, but it was more than enough.

Roaring blue water at the Rhine Falls.

Continuing our roadtrip we at some point came to drive uphills into the mountains. The Alps are not in fact just a group of mountains, it is an mountain area that is divided into 36 parts in eight countries. The whole area is about 200 000 square km large and opposite to what many people think, only the centremost and highest mountain tops are covered with snow all year around. One of the more famous alpine areas, Sölden, was actually beautifully green when we passed by. On Saturday evening we arrived in Schwangau, where our nice b&b awaited us. From our balcony we could gaze up to the Royal Castles (Königsschlösser), Neuschwanstein Castle and Hohenschwangau Castle. The clouds were hanging heavily over the mountains and the view was breathtaking.

A curvy alp road.

On Sunday morning after having breakfast next to a finnish family we headed up to see the famous disney-fairy-tale-like-castle Neuschwanstein. I must say it looked quite tiny from down the hill, but while walking through the gate I was in pure awe! You are only allowed in the castle with a guided tour, but it was okay, because our group wasn't all too big. Walking through those hallways and rooms you can't help but be amazed about the architecture. I can't believe how they were able to build that kind of massive castles back then with much less equipment than nowadays. Although nowadays nobody would build such a castle, because it would take too long and be too expensive. The castle was built from 1869-1892, leaving the construction incomplete upon the unexpected death of King Ludwig II, who had comissoned the castle. King Ludwig grew up in the other Royal Castle Hohenschwangau just down the hill, and on the building of his own palace, he had gathered inspiration from fairytale sagas like Tristan and Isolde and from the operas of Richard Wagner. The castle even has a singer's room, that was intended as a stage for Wagners pieces. The castle, that originally was meant to be a personal refuge for a reclusive king, but was indeed opened for the public only six weeks after Ludwigs death. The castle has about 1,3 million visitors every year, with peaks of 6 000 people a day during the summer.

The view from our hotel room, Neuschwanstein to the left and Hohenschwangau to the right.

I can't help but wonder what the life was like back in the day when there were kings and queens who lived in castles and did nothing but entertain guests and rode horses. Surely that wasn't all they did, but what I wouldn't give to even have been a servant in the castle. I mean even the thay had quite glorious accommodations. Sure, a lot of things are better now - we have running water, central heating and telephones. But believe it or not, Ludwig was a very up to date king, and he was up to date with all new innovations in his castle - including running water, central heating and telephones. Imagine that!

After leaving the castle reluctantly we headed up the mountains again - this time in Austria and again with amazing views. I could no say that I've seen Germanys highest mountain, Zugspitze, but unfortunately the clouds were hanging very low this morning, so I couldn't quite see the top. Around noon we arrived in a small village called Ötztal. We parked the car on a lot where people in wetsuits were running around and carrying rafts. I was sure I knew what we'd do, white water rafting. I was wrong. Both uf us got a set of wet suits, wet socks, hiking shoes, a helmet and a harness. Even in the bus on the way up the mountain I didn't know what was about to happen to us. It turned out to be a completely new adventure for me: canyoning. The next three hours we spent abseiling down the mountain, jumping up to 12-metre jumps into the water and sliding down waterfalls. It was great fun - but I do have to say my leg are still hurting even today! In Ötztal there are a lot of adventure companies who offer white water rafting, climbing, canyoning, biking - you name it. We enjoyed our day with our amazing guides Michl and James from the company Feel Free (http://www.feelfree.at/canyoning-rafting-tyrol/home/english/feel-adventure.html).

The first waterfall we crossed path with during the trip.

We continued our roadtrip towards Switzerland, making a quick stop in Vaduz, the capital of the small country Lichtenstein. Small really is the word for this country with a population of 35,000. The country is one of about two landlocked countries in the whole world and its area is only around 160 square km. The capital (that isnt the biggest city, the biggest one is Schaan) feels like a small town with its urban population of 4,000 and looking down on the city, Hans-Adam II, the prince of Lichtenstein lives in his castle just up the hill from the city centre. It's hard to believe that someone would still live in a castle. I bet it only looked middleagely from the outside - the inside is probably high tec...

In the evening we arrived in the small swiss town Weggis. It sure is true that Switzerland is an expensive country, at least in comparison to other central european countries. For a finn the prices were quite normal - then again I don't know if the prices are higher in the capital, probably. On Monday morning we made our way to Lucerne, which is said to be the most beautiful city in Switzerland. The town, which is the capital of the canton also called Lucerne, has a beautiful old town which most significant attraction is the brige Kapellbrücke The bridge was constructed in 1333, which makes it the oldest wooden bridge in Europe. Adjoining the bridge is the 140 feet tall Water Tower (Wasserturm), an octagonal tower made from brick, which has served as a prison, torture chamber, watchtower and treasury. The bridge was actually almost completely destroyed due to a fire in October 1993, it was rebuilt and reopened to pedestrians in April 1994.

The rebuilt bridge.

The final destination to our trip was a small city in France, Belfort. There was an ongoing music festival, FIMU International Festival of University Music. We walked through the old town, where all the concerts took place. Belfort is the home of the Lion of Belfort, a sculpture by Frédéric Bartholdi expressing people's resistance against the siege in the Franco-Prussian War (1870) – who shortly afterwards built the Statue of Liberty in New York. The coolest thing about the city is that up on the citadel of the city there is a huge pair of rubber boots - I have no idea what they're supposed to symbolize though...

After a long and exhausting - but fun and rewarding weekend we returned to Berlin. Tired but happy.

Guests and hot summer days

I've noticed how hard it is to get around to writing the blog. An that is not because I wouldn't want to, but because I don't have the time! I'm hardly home, and when I am, I tend to have other things to take care of. Like sleeping for instance. Some people say sleeping is over-rated, but I disagree. I am unable to function if I sleep to less. Though I have noticed, that I tend to wake up earlier during the summer, and don't have the need to sleep as much as in the winter. Another thing I've noticed, is that I can't really sleep as long as I used to. I don't think I've slept past 10.30 the whole time I've been in Berlin. I guess it has something to do with getting older, but also because I don't wan't to "waste my time" sleeping while I'm here, cause there's so much to see!

We saw Potiché, a french film starring Gerard Depardieu.

I have made it my mission not to eat in the same restaurant twice while I'm here. There are so many restaurants in this city, that you would probably have to live here for years and years to try them all. Wouldn't that be amazing?! But that would require having a lot of money. I have tried some good restaurants so far, but nothing really breathtakingly amazing. I guess I have relatively high standards after working so many years in gastronomy myself.

Having breakfast with Kristina at a cafe in Charlottenburg.

Talking about food, there are some things I've noticed about eating habits among my co-workers. I guess there are about two of us who actually go to the break room to have their lunches. Most of the people eat by their computers, they have their own food or they order in. Or the third option is to buy a "Brötchen", a filled bun, from the Brötchenjunge (the bunboy). The point is that they feel they don't have the time to take a break to have their lunch in peace. I find this quite disturbing, I mean it's not like there's an atmosphere there that doesn't allow you taking a lunch break. The spaniards do it right though, but after all, they grow up with their siestas. We have maybe three or four spaniards at the office, and they go out for lunch every day. Sometimes I join them, but mostly I bring my own food, because even though eating out is quite cheap here, it's still quite the amount of money to spend every day. And when I cook myself, I at least know what's in the food...

Last week was a short working week, because of the christian holiday ascension day. I had visitors from Finland most of the week. My choir friends Anna and Raigo had a stop on their inter rail trip here in Berlin, and just as any proper tourists, we took a free walking tour on ascension day. It was a really hot day, the sun was burning and the sky was blue. Our tour started at the Brandenburg Gate and the next almost five hours our guide walked us through most important sights in Mitte (centre of Berlin). The guide was from London, but had lived in Berlin for many years now, and he was very well informed. He shared with us all kinds of interesting details about the history of Germany. The tour was completely amazing and all free! I don't thing a tour that you have to pay for would be any better. And the most interesting part of it is, that the tour guides live on their tips; they don't get paid in any other way. The core idea of it all is, that everyone is entitled to a tour, whether they have money or not. So in the end of the tour you pay whatever amount the tour was worth to you. I think it's a great idea! Here's the website if you want to have a look. http://www.newberlintours.com/daily-tours/new-berlin-free-tour.html

Anna and Raigo enjoying the shade.

After having a shopping filled day on Friday with my friend Kristina who arrived on Thursday evening, we decided to take it easier on Saturday. We took the train (and the bike) and went to Britzer Garten, which is a huge park south of the city in Alt-Mariendorf. The park was just amazing, there was a lot to see and you could just stroll around there for hours. There was a part of the park where there was an amazing playground for kids, and there were a lot of families there. What we were more interested in was the part where the gardens were, luckily for us it wasn't as crowded there. We tried to stay in the shade as much as possible, because it was really hot! All the flowers were really beautiful and there was even a small train that you could take if you didn't want to walk through the park. I really was a place where you could've spent the whole day, along with a blanket and a picnic basket. There were a lot of people who had realized that because closer to the restaurants and the cafes, the lawns were packed with people. A little too crowded for my taste. Luckily there were parts where it wasn't so crowded. And the park was really worth the 3 euros (discounted price) we paid to get in!

The most beautiful path under the apple trees.

My dancing friends Thomas and Katrin had told me about the possibility to sing karaoke in the Mauerpark (the wall park). So that's where I headed on Sunday. I decided to bike the whole way, which was an amazing decition. The weather was yet again very hot and the trains would have been even hotter. At least I got a bit of wind while biking and the view was great - I tried to stay close by the river Spree. On the way to the park I stumbled upon a café which had a name that forced me to pop in and have a cold drink: Raja Jooseppi. Now, if you're not a finn, you won't understand the funny thing about it. Raja-Jooseppi (how it is originally spelled) is a crossing point and border station up in Lapland by the russian border. The place got its name by a man who lived as a hermit and reindeer farmer by the border to Russia in the beginning of the 20th century. I asked the bartender how the place got it's name, but he didn't know the story behind it - too bad.

It wasn't just a café but a hostel as well.

I didn't really know anything else about Mauerpark than that they had karaoke there on Sundays, so when I came there I was quite surprised. There was a flea market (Trödelmarkt), which isn't really a traditional flee market, but like a mix of old and new, almost like a bazaar. There were tables with peoples own old stuff and also people who were selling their hand made things. In the middle of the bazaar there was a bar/café area with food, drinks and music. It was amazing! On one side of the park there was an Amphitheatre where the karaoke was supposed to take place. Thomas and Katrin joined me and we sat down in the second row. At first there was an australian band called Set Sail playing some music (https://www.facebook.com/setsailmusic), after which a theatre performance took over the stage.

The karaoke has a crowd of about 1500-2000 people every Sunday.

When Joe Hatchiban stepped onto the stage with his two huge music boxes the crowd (and there really was one!) went wild! Joe is the founder of Bearpit Karaoke, which takes place around 3pm every Sunday in Mauerpark. It all started in 2009 and has gotten bigger and bigger ever since. As they were building up the sound system, people already queuing to get a singing turn. Thomas told me to go and sign up, or else I wouldn't get a turn at all, so I did. I was going to be number 8 on the stage. My hands were shaking by the third song... But it was amazing! I've never sung in front of such a huge crowd before and the atmosphere was very warm (not because of the sun) and cheering. The crowd went wild during every song, just because it was so amazingly brave to go up there in front of all those people. I was quite proud of myself! After my song a girl came up to me and handed me a flyer and telling me about live-karaoke. She said that I have to come, and I do intend to! There's nothing better than singing! Here's the http://www.bearpitkaraoke.com/index.htm

There are two thing I figured I'd miss about the finnish summer. The lakes and the light nights. The light nights I do miss, it's kind of strange that it's dark AND warm at the same time. I miss the lakes too, but mostly because of the short distance to get to them (especially from my appartment in Finland). I have found that there are a few lakes, where it's okay to swim here too. On Monday I went to Flughafensee, which is close to the Tegel Airport. The water is quite clear and the beaches are nice. Although we managed to come to a FKK beach, which means that the people there are more or less naked. FKK means freikörperkultur, which translates more or less into Free Body Culture, and it is a german movement. It was very big in former East Germany, but since the 1980's it has been quite restricted. FKK endorses a naturistic approach to sports and community living. Behind that is the joy of the experience of nature or also on being nude itself, without direct relationship to sexuality. I rather find it strange that people have a need to be naked in public. I mean the sauna is something else, but on a public beach? Maybe it's strange for me, because it's not really allowed to be naked on public beaches in Finland. I mean you can enjoy your nakedness in the privacy of your own cottage, but on public beaches you put some clothes on. I guess it is a cultural thing though...

This coming weekend I'm flying to Freiburg with Matt. One of my ex-collagues from my time in Hannover is going to Australia for a year, and she's having a farewell party. I figured since I've never been to Freiburg, and it supposed to be a beautiful city, I might as well go. Since it's a long weekend (pentecost) we have three days to check out the area. Matt has planned everything, and all I know is that well be driving around in France, Switzerland, Lichtenstein, Germany and Austria, and that were visiting the castle of Neuschwanstein. I don't know how were supposed to have time for all that, but I'm excited!

Summer, sun and strawberries

My first month here in Berlin is turning to its end. I've had quite the time getting aquainted with work and my living surroundings. My flat mate noticed something about me though, that seems to be a pattern for me. She told me she'd said to a friend of hers: "My flat mate has only been here for a few weeks, and already she knows half the city!" I guess she was referring to the evening we went to have chinese food a couple of week ago, where we met one of my collagues on the way... But I do have a tendancy to get to know a lot of people in a short amount of time. Then again I am a what you in finnish would call "sosiaalihuora". Which translates into something as horrible as "social whore". I simply like to meet and get to know new people.

That was the case a week ago on wednesday on the subway. I was sitting on the bench, and this girl at the other end kept glancing my way. Finally she got up and asked me in English if my shirt was from H&M. She had noticed it becuause, she had the same one. It turned out she was a Canadian intern, who had been in Berlin three days so far and couldn't speak any German. We got to talking and decided to meet up for cocktails soon.

What I love about big cities is the commuter traffic possibilities. The subways, trams and trains are some much more comfortable than buses. As most people know, the Germans don't speak English all too well. I mean all even all their tv-shows are dubbed, so where are they supposed to learn it? I've noticed that the announcements in the trains and trams are quite interesting. I really don't know how the people who decide about announcement have thought that a person who doesn't speak German is supposed to understand the following sentence: "Please change here for a train service to Hauptbahnhof." Well you might be able to guess that Hauptbahnhof means main train station, but when you add a nice German accent to the announcement it all gets even more interesting.

The river Spree runs right outside of the main train station and a few entrepreneurs have taken advantage of all the free space. Since the main train station was built only after the wall got torn down, the city centre(s) aren't really located around the station. When you compare it with many other German cities, where the city is build around the station, it's quite different. The station is located in the government district, not too far away from the Reichstag (parliament building). So what I wanted to tell you about was the beach bar(s) next to the station. The first one to open at the location was BundesPresseStrand, which literally means national press beach. It was opened in 2003 by an unemployed journalist and after that a few others have followed with more beach bars. The beach bar is open every day, when you can come with kids and just enjoy the sun, and at night it turns to a beach club. I went there on Saturday with Matt and three of his friends, and it was divine!


Chilling at BundesPresseStrand


The best-known Berlin Wall crossing point between
East Berlin and West Berlin during the Cold War

Last weekend the final in the German football cup DFB-Pokal (Deutsche Fussball-Bund e.V.) was played at the Olympic Stadium here in Berlin. The game was played between Schalke 04 and MSV Duisburg. The city was full of football fans and we watched the game along with the fans at Kurfürstendamm. The atmosphere was great and Schalke 04 ended up winning 5 to 0. The fans were going crazy, but it was fun!

A nice cocktail/sheesha bar called
Chischkhan close to my place

Last week when I went dancing Thomas and Katrin told me about another dancing place, that's outside and open on Tuesdays. So this week I decided to check it out. The place is called Amphitheater, more commonly Monbijou. It's directly by the river Spree right across the Bode museum. Since the summer nights here aren't light like the one we have in Finland, it can get very cozy and romantic with coloured lights and music. They have dancing there every night with different genres. Tuesdays would be my nights, because then they have ChaCha, Walzer & Co on the menu. If you want to have a look, here's the link: http://www.amphitheater-berlin.de/tanz.html.

Matt and Yasmin enjoying the best sides of summer

Ballroom dancing and piggie chasing

This week was pure hard work! No, just kidding, actually I had a quite comfy week at the office. I’m really starting to get the hang of things. I was able to work most of the week quite independently. This week I only translated one document, but did a lot of project management. The work gets easier all the time, because I’m starting to understand how the project is built. What makes it complicated is the fact that different customers want that their data to be handled in different ways. This means that we need to use different kinds of programs. It helps that I’ve been working mostly with one client, so I’ve become pretty fluent with their projects. The important thing is that I really enjoy the work, and the days pass by so fast, that I barely notice.

On Tuesday I and my flat mate Miriam decided to go to a flea market in Kreutzberg. She picked me up at work but when we arrived to the place where the flea market, there was nothing there. The weather was amazing though, so we decided to have an ice cream. We went to what is about to become my favorite place, the ice cream salon tanne B. After ice cream we headed to Prenzlauer Berg to meet one of my good friends Harm. Harm works as the German representative for a Finnish flooring company and he gets around a lot. We met in Finland a bit over two years ago, and every time he comes to Tampere, we get together for dinner or drinks. We don’t see each other all that often, but we’ve become quite good friends. We started off at a wine shop/bar in Prenzlauer Berg, which is owned by the husband of a common friend of me and Harm. We had a couple of glasses of the most delicious sparkling rosé wine after which we went to have dinner at a Chinese restaurant quite close by. We ordered a round of dumplings, which I tasted for the first time. They had a various selection of dumplings, so we decided to order many different kinds and share. For those who don’t know what dumplings are: they are balls made of dough with different fillings. We had dumplings with lamb, cow, pig, veggies and shrimp, which I liked the most. They were all quite good, but I don’t think it will be my favorite thing to eat.

Dumplings Shanghai and Lamb

After stopping by at a sheesha bar we ended the evening at a bar called Graues Kloster where our common friend Gesa was playing lp’s. Graues Kloster is a very cozy little cellar bar in Prenzlauer Berg which seemed to have a quite regular clientele. There was a couple in the bar - Thomas and Katrin - that I met in Berlin in March and it turned out that they like dancing. And I’m not talking about clubbing; no they are doing ballroom dancing! They told me about a restaurant called Clärchens Ballhaus, where they have ballroom dancing, and they asked me to go with them on Thursday. I was totally in! But man, why did I leave my dancing shoes in Finland?! On Thursday I could barely wait for it to be evening. When I came to Clärchens at about 9.30 pm Thomas and Katrin were already there, along with some more of their friends. One of the guys asked me to dance and we started off with a discofox, which is a bit like the Swedish dance bugg. The atmosphere was great and I got to dance a lot of different dances including rumba, chacha, Argentinean tango (which really is different to Finnish tango), jive, quickstep, wiener waltz and slow waltz. It was a nice mix of different people on different levels, some were just beginners and some were dancing very professionally. I enjoyed it all so much that I decided to start going there every week! Thomas and Katrin also told me about some other dancing place, which apparently is outside. They said it opens on Monday and that they are going there on Tuesday, when they have standard dancing. I think I can’t help but go…

This weekend we made a house switch with Matt’s parents. They went to Plessow, where Matt lives, because they wanted to come to Berlin and we took over the animal feeding at Matt’s parents’ farm. Our plans for Saturday changed quite the bit when the two little pigs got out through the fence and ran away. We chased them around for a bit over two hours without result. Finally we got sick of the very fast pigs and made a car tour in Matt’s super cute Mini. We went to Enschede in Holland and did still have a nice afternoon. While in Holland Matt’s neighbor called and said that the pigs were on their way to the next village. We figured that whatever, they’re gone. Surprisingly this morning when Matt went to feed the animals, the pig were back on the front yard, and he even managed to get them back in the shed. He was very happy getting to tell me about it, because he got quite frustrated yesterday while chasing them around. All in all the weekend was very nice. Life on a farm can be very calming, especially when there are two oh-so-cute four-week-old puppies to play with.

Piggies on the run

Playing makes tired - especially when you're only four weeks old!

Three friends of mine are coming to Berlin on Thursday and they’re bringing me bread and chewing gum, yay! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the three of them and I’m excited! We’ll see what the week brings…

Concrete adventures

Finally it was weekend. Well I can't really say "finally", because I actually enjoy my job so far and I had a very interesting week. It was still great to get a feel of weekend. I have really never had a job with office hours, which equals that this is my first job with free weekends and evenings. So my first real free weekend was here and now afterwards I can say that I could really get used to it! I had a great weekend getting to know Berlin a little better. And miles and miles of concrete behind me.

On Friday I left Berlin though and headed to Plessow, which is a small village close to Potsdam. My boyfriend Matt goes to school and lives there. He goes to a customs school and lives in a dorm on the school area. He had planned to have a barbeque with a couple of friends and I was invited. The day was amazing and warm and we even got to enjoy some time of sun while barbequing. I had a got a bottle of rosé wine to drink while the others had beer. Well here's where I faced the first problem: there was no bottle opener. Crap! Somehow Matt finally managed to open the bottle (after hitting it against a tree and digging the cork with a knife) and I got to drink one glass of my rose while having some grilled chicken and potatoe salad. Yummie! After our barbeque we headed back to Berlin to spend the rest of the weekend there.

Matt was cutting the meat for Lenny

On Saturday we decided to have a look at Kreuzberg. After changing the underground line two times we finally got to Görlitzer Bahnhof. I'm starting to get the picture of how big Berlin really is. It takes ages to get from one side of the city to the other. From my apartment in Charlottenburg I need about 30 minutes to get to Kreuzberg, and those are both parts of the city which are relatively close to the centre! Anyways it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the sky was blue. We started off at Oranienburger Strasse and walked around a bit. After a while we decided it was time for ice cream, so we headed to a ice cream place my collague Chris had recommended me. I was sure worth the recommedation, the ice cream was divine. Matt had coconut and lychee and I had carrot-orange and strawberry. If you go to Berlin, I can only recommend the ice cream at this place! It's called Eissalon tanne B and is situated at Lausitzer Platz in Kreuzberg close the the underground station Görlitzer Bahnhof.

Enjoying some delicious ice cream on the most beautiful summer day

In the afternoon we got some sparkling wine and strawberries and sat down at Urbanhafen and just enjoyed the sun. Urbanhafen is a great (and popular) place to hang out when the weather is good. It's more alternative when it comes to the people and there's a lot of green. Next to the Urbanhafen I discovered a nice coffee shop, which seems to be quite new, because I can't find any information about it online. I just went there to use the bathroom, so I don't really remember what it was called, but I sure know I have to go there again! It was on the corner of Carl-Herz-Ufer and Baerwaldstrasse, that's all I know.

Sunshine!

While chilling at Urbanhafen I was checking out my tourist map and found something interesting. Ritter Sport has a so called chocolate world called BunteSchokoWelt, where you can have a Ritter Sport chocolate bar made just the way you like it. The most interesting thing about the place was the making of the chocolate though. I was a bit disappointed, because the rest was made only for commercial reasons. There was a huge shop with different Ritter Sport products and upstairs a café and a small round where you could see how the process of making chocolate goes. After a piece of chocolate cake (which was delicious though!) and an ice coffee we walked along to the Brandenburg Gate. We were going to the Room of Silence when all of a sudden someone put on some music and everyone around us just started dancing! They were dancing swing dances and the atmosphere was just amazing! I wish my feet hadn't been to sore to dance. I decided I have to get Matt to take a dance course, because I really can't be with someone who doesn't know how to dance, I mean I love it so much!

All kinds of chocolate at BunteSchokoWelt

Born to hand jive!

We were actually planning on going out in the evening, but we ended up being so tired that we just went to sleep.

Today had two highlights. In the morning we went to a breakfast buffet in an arabic restaurant. The place is called Assafir and it is a cozy restaurant on Wilmersdorfer Strasse, which is the main street in Charlottenburg. The restaurant was decorated in an arabic theme with red sofas and golden decorations. They had so many different things to eat there and everything was totally delicious! I got to think about my trip to Egypt last Christmas, and I realized I hadn't tried almost any of those dishes there, but they still reminded me of the trip.

Moroccan mint tea. Delicious.

In the afternoon we went to Werder, which is a small town 30 minutes with the train from Berlin. Today was the last day of the 133 flower festival Baumblütenfest. It is basically another reason for the people to drink and have fun. The festival is arranged every year to celebrate the blooming trees. The idea came from a fruit farmer called Wilhelm Wils who thought it would be great to give all nature lover an opportunity to enjoy the blooming fruit trees. The first festival was arranged in 1879 and all the people who came to enjoy the flowers weren't of course a bad thing for the local businesses. The festival got bigger and bigger every year and at it's highest the number of people coming to the festival was in 1998 with 750 000 participants. Nowadays the number is around 500 000 every year. This year the trees bloomed way too early, so when the festival started the blooming was already over. I was very sad about this, because Matt told me how beautiful it usually is. I did enjoy it anyway. The weather couldn't have been better and we walked around for a couple of hours and tasted some fruit wines. I can understand why people keep coming to the festival - the wine. It wasn't really for me, they were all way too sweet and many with a very high percentage of alcohol - up to 17%! What I could have done was trying every stand with different kind of snacks, there were a lot!!

A bar boat at the river Havel

Looking on to the mainland from the festival island in Werder (Havel)

I have one week behind me now and it's been amazing so far. I can't wait to see what Berlin has to give to in the next three months!

Oh and I have to say: GO LEIJONAT! You've done well so far, keep up the good game!

Ich bin ein(e) Berliner(in)

Yes, I am officially a citizen of Berlin now. I went to the citizen centre yesterday early in the morning. The centre opened at 8 am and at 7.48 when I arrived, there were already about 30 people in line before me. I think I got through quite fast though, most of time I was waiting for my turn. At 8.50 I continued my way to the finance centre to get a tax number. The weather was kinda crappy again, so I decided to go one stop on the underground, since I had my monthly ticket now. The underground apparently didn't think my idea was that good though, because it never arrived. So I had to bike in the rain, which sucked! Where's the amazing weather that everyone talked about? The finance centre was quickly taken care of and I was at work at 10 am.

The beautiful old building where the citizen centre is.

I finished work quite early and hurried home, where my boyfriend already waited for me. After grabbing a quick coffee we headed out for a small Charlottenburg-tour. I love all the small streets, the old houses and the parks. It really is a beautiful part of Berlin. Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf is the fourth biggest of Berlins 12 boroughs with its 320.322 inhabitants, but only the sixth biggest in areal (64,72 sqm). It's main sights are the Technical University of Berlin, the Berlin University of Arts, the opera Deutsche Oper Berlin as well as the Olympic Stadium and Charlottenburg Palace, which I live right next to.

My next door neighbour: the Charlottenburg Palace

Why aren't our sewers in Finland as pretty as this one?

Today was the most interesting day at work so far. Yesterday I got a translation assignment, which I started translating this morning. It was great to come to the office when I didn't have to start with asking for things to do. I also got my very own account and got to start managing some projects. The day went by so fast, because I had stuff to do! More of this!

A view from the bridge Schlossbrücke outside my house

It's summer! This beautiful park is on the way to my nearby grocery store.

Tonight I met up with a collague, Chris. He showed be around in Kreuzberg and I finally got to go somewhere other than my own part of the city. Chris has a background as interesting as mine (or even more so!). He was born in Hamburg, grew up in Stockholm, studied in Lübeck and lived in Vienna and New York before coming to Berlin. That's quite a lot for a 31-year-old! Now I have someone to practise my Swedish with, which is great! And I do have to say, his Swedish is very good for someone who hasn't lived in Sweden for 15 years. After walking around for almost two hours we ended up in a Sheesha café, where the sheesha was probably the best I've ever had! On the way home I was amazed my the warmth of Berliners, everyone was smiling to me and even spontaneous chats took place in the underground. I can't help falling in love with this city!

A view from the bridge Admiralbrücke over the Landwehr Canal